We look forward to meeting some of
you at the AGM on Saturday 28
September at St Lukeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, West Kilburn,
and at other events around the country
this year.

FROM RESCUE TO
RECOVERY
In the last two years, the Teso people
suffered badly from flooding and the
Churches and aid agencies - including
TDT - helped with food aid and other
relief such as mosquito nets. This year,
we are pleased to be able to focus our
resources on development projects of all
kinds to help strengthen the community
and build a more stable society. You
will read here of good progress in some
of these that show the commitment of
the Teso churches to renewal and
reconstruction of their region.

Dave Watts
Administrator

MAKING PROGRESS
More clean water
In 2012, we funded 12 wells and 3
boreholes for about 12000 people,
executed through the Pentecostal
Assemblies of God thanks to grants
from Wilmslow Wells for Africa, Spring
Harvest, The Drinking Fountain
Association, The Allen and Nesta
Ferguson Trust and donations from
supporters.

I talk about the work of Teso
Development Trust to all sorts of people.
They like the fact that we are small
and focused and people can see where
their money is going. They also see
specific projects come to fruition that
meet clear needs.

In 2013, we have a similar sized
programme in Soroti and Serere and
have funded 4 projects through
Wilmslow Wells for Africa, 3 through
the Charles Hayward Foundation and a
well each by the Roman Catholic
congregation in Cheddar, Somerset and
Chawn Hill Church, Stourbridge. We
have also funded 6 water harvesting
projects in schools in Amuria with the
Church of Uganda. On 25th June PAG
confirmed that 4 wells are already
complete and one is under construction.

We are also a friendship network
between Teso and UK churches and
people. This is seen in the series of visits
that have been taking place and are
planned. It means we know who we are
supporting personally. Our partners are
not an agency good at getting aid and
writing bids but friends we know and
have enjoyed meeting.
Our small scale means that we have
limited funds (and low overheads) and
cannot mount big scale promotion
campaigns but depend on the financial
and prayer support of a fairly small
number of people. We value your
support so much, therefore, in helping
make further progress in the renewal of
the Teso people.

PAG has identified 4 other well
projects and 3 boreholes we have
yet to fund. We are happy to
receive funds for a named project and to
supply donors with a report and photos
demonstrating the big difference a source
of clean water makes.

1

Newly completed well at Opiyai,
Acetgwen, near Soroti

Helping the Hospitals
On 15th January, Martin and Elaine
Harrison set off for Kumi Hospital where
they worked, until the end of March,
with Dr Ruth Obaikol and her team to
improve the financial systems of the
hospital. (Martin and Elaine are
Management Consultants offering their
services voluntarily with expenses paid
by TDT and Kumi Hospital). The
programme went so well that they have
gone out again for a further 3 months
to continue their input. A key task is to
install a computerised payroll system
for Kumi Hospital that will revolutionise
the management of the pay of its 140
staff.

gradually changing its role. Up to now, it
has been a medical centre offering
direct access for everyone. Now, it is
becoming a hub for the network of
medical centres in the Kumi area. The
local clinics are the first port of call for
people seeking medical help. The clinics
assess the peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs, and if they
are able, Kumi Hospital teams will treat
them on the spot. They will be taken to
the hospital if they need more treatment
or surgery. This is obviously more
effective and gets better results.

A wide range of new investments have
been identified that will further improve
the impact of the Hospital which is

Eye treatment needs significant
improvement. A high proportion of Teso

We are working with the hospital to
further support this vital change. One
key need is better transport. Another is
selective investment in certain services.

2

people suffer (like us in the UK) from
poor eyesight. Funded by the
international charity Christian Blind
Mission, eye tests are done and
spectacles provided. These are,
however, second hand spectacles
supplied from the West â&#x20AC;&#x201C; hardly ideal.
We are working to kit out a proper
optical laboratory that will be able to
grind lenses and provide proper
bespoke spectacles, potentially for
many hundreds of people.

harmful to the chances of survival. Kumi
Hospital urgently needs better, safer
transport and motor cycle ambulances
are being considered.
The Trust has a fund for Freda Carr
Hospital and we are now
establishing one for investments in
Kumi Hospital.

Martin and Elaine enjoy a trip around the area

Transport of patients is a problem.
Some Ugandan hospitals have
successfully acquired motorcycle
ambulances that can collect patients
from villages deep in the bush along
tracks a normal vehicle cannot use. The
current means is to load the patient on
the back of a bike which can be very

Kumi Hospital planning session
3

Feeding the hungry
The G8 summit made much of the need
to tackle malnutrition and food security
in sub Saharan Africa. Malnutrition costs
Uganda an estimated $899 million,
leading to higher rates of child
mortality, lower school attendance, loss
of workforce productivity and increased
rates of diarrhea, anaemia, respiratory
problems and early death. 1 out of
every 3 children are stunted in their
growth, leading to slow development
and health problems.

growing in Teso and protect it against
drought and floods is key.
Lucy Hefford, on a visit in April, was
shown one of our food security projects
in Gweri and found the farmers in the
cooperative very pleased with the
orange groves they had planted with
our help. They have learnt to graft new
strains of fruit and built a store. This
helps widen their range of food and
gives greater food security.
Another success was the development of
wood burning stoves which make much
better use of available firewood and
create less pollution.

The need is to invest in more stable food
production but also to produce crops
with higher nutrition values and provide
fortified foods to school children.

TDT partners have imaginative and
effective grassroots projects to
tackle food security. Our need is
the funds to help make them happen.

Translating this into action is the hard bit.
As supporters will know we have been
working on this for some years with TEAR
Fund. The need to diversify food
New orange groves in Gweri and
(inset) orange store house

4

Saving money
We all like birthdays and the women’s
cooperative in Soroti celebrated the 1st
anniversary of the Savings Associations
in February in a typically Ugandan
style.

Top to bottom:
 Village Loan and Savings Associations
birthday party
 Children join in with the celebrations
 Community leaders with members of the
Savings Association

There are now 17 groups with 438
members (108 men and 330 women).
These are located all round Soroti and
its rural hinterland, including two for
Market traders, one nursery and a
Church. The birthday time is the occasion
on which members of the groups, if they
wish, can have the money (and the
interest) they have saved in the last
year.
This scheme, which is taking off all
around Africa, enables members to
save systematically, be more resilient in
crises and build up funds to grow
businesses and pay education fees.
Members are too poor to have
conventional bank accounts.
More groups are being formed, not
least because TDT renewed the funding
of the development worker in March
with a grant of £2500 to support a
training worker. We also provided a
computer so that the records could be
handled more efficiently than by using
hand written ledgers.
We will review progress later in
the year and if it continues to
steam ahead, we will want to find
the funds to further grow this highly
effective scheme.
Visit

www.teso.org.uk
for up to date news and information
on all TDT’s work.
5

Training future Church Leaders
The Churches continue to grow. The
challenge for the leaderships is to train
enough leaders to keep up the
momentum and to disciple new
Christians. All the Bishops we work with
in the Church of Uganda and the
Pentecostal Churches have training
programmes but they are under
resourced.

PAG pastors, and supplied a dozen
boxes of theological books and Bibles
to PAG and the Church of Uganda.
Some supporters help support leaders
with finance, and recently one Church
has provided a motorbike for one of
the Church of Uganda clergy who has a
very large parish to cover.
The Church of Uganda Lay Readers
Training Centre in Soroti has been
completing improved facilities and
received teaching input for 2 months
from James Green – an ordinand
trainee at Cranmer Hall, University of
Durham.

Key needs are to:
 fund on the job training for the
Pentecostal Assemblies of God
pastors
 support Lay readers training in the
Church of Uganda
 underpin the livelihoods of the leaders
 equip training centres

The leaders of the Churches are key
people in its future health. We will
continue to work with the Bishops to keep
this help going.

Recently, we have supported a
programme in goat rearing for 100

Church of Uganda students meeting Lucy Hefford in April

6

Lucy Hefford visits the
Takaramian Parent Managed
School at Gweri which we have
supported. They do a brilliant
job but badly need school books and
further classrooms for the 670 children.

7

Publishing the Bible in Kumam
The Book Event of the Year in Teso is in
December when the newly completed
Bible in Kumam will be launched in
Soroti. This will be a wonderful event
and means a large proportion of the
Teso population will have all the
scriptures in their own language for the
first time.

Canon John and Jean Wheatley Price
will be representing TDT at the
celebration. The Trust has financially
supported the work of translating the
Bible into Kumam from the start with an
annual grant of £1500 plus donations
from supporters.

BED NETS – A LIFE SAVER!
On 10 May 2013, we were privileged
to attend the National Launch of Long
Lasting Insecticide treated Nets
Universal Coverage Campaign and
Commemoration of World Malaria Day
2013 in Soroti District, Uganda.

pregnant women, who die from malaria.
Over 6,000 health workers have been
recruited to help with education to
encourage people to use the nets. Nets
have been known to be used for fishing,
wedding veils and football nets, so
education and prayer is needed to
ensure people will make good use of the
nets.

We are delighted that this has come to
fruition.

It was such a blessing to be in Soroti, as
St Andrew’s Church has for very many
years supported the work of the Teso
Development Trust, and have often
welcomed both speakers from TDT and
Soroti Diocese. The Guest of Honour
was His Excellency President Yoweri
Kaguta Museveni, who we were
fortunate to be introduced to (and
photographed with - see overleaf) at
the end of the event.

It is anticipated that in the future there
will be less need to expand hospital
facilities as people will be healthier,
they will receive more education if they
are not ill, and there will be more
people to grow the economy if the
death rate is reduced.
So on the green fields outside of Soroti
town, under a clear blue sky and hot
African sun, a hugely significant step
was taken to combat the very serious
threat of malaria, for which we give
thanks to God.

This important day had been preceded
by much hard work by different
agencies – the World Health
Organization, USAid, UNICEF and DFID,
the UK Department for International
Development, of which our son-in-law
Daniel Graymore is head of office in
Uganda and one of the speakers at the
launch.

Sheila and John Bayes
St Andrew’s Church, Sidcup

Visit

www.teso.org.uk

The aim of the campaign is to distribute
21 million bed nets across the country,
thereby significantly decreasing the
number of children under 5, and also

for up to date news and information
on all TDT’s work.
You can also give securely online at
www.justgiving.com/tesodevelopment
8

she was awarded the Uganda
Independence Medal in 1962. In
1965, she returned to the UK to look
after her father but returned in 1973
to work for the Uganda Christian
Council, developing ecumenical RE
teaching materials for schools and
acting as the representative of the
Church Mission Society in Uganda. She
finally retired in 1984.

Above: Sheila Bayes with Bishop Charles
and Bishop Geresom at the conference

Note: TDT supporters have funded 1000s
of bednets in the past few years through
its relief programmer but the need is
huge.

CYNTHIA MACKAY 1925-2013

Jenny Ottewell a close friend
described her as â&#x20AC;&#x153;a person who has
taught me how to serve, how to be a
friend and how to follow Jesusâ&#x20AC;?.

Cynthia Mackay started work in Ngora
Girls School in 1951 and then became
Acting Principal of Bishop Kitching
College in 1953, teaching many students
amongst whom were future Bishops of
the Church of Uganda. In recognition of
the outstanding quality of her service,

Cynthia was a keen supporter of the
Trust.

9

New Lay Readers library at the
Training Centre at Soroti. Florence
Erwau, the Bishopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife, shows off
the new facilities and the new books
donated by TDT supporters.

10

THE NEXT ANNUAL
MEETING
We look forward to contact with many
of you and invite you to the 2013
Annual Meeting at St Luke’s, West
Kilburn, in West London on 28th
September, commencing at 10.30am
with coffee.

FUNDRAISING
We are more than happy to support
your fundraising with
 our leaflet – as many copies as you
want
 a PowerPoint explaining TDT
 a DVD of some of our projects
 extra copies of the newsletters - as
many as you can use
 a speaker from the committee
Contact Dave Watts by email or phone
(see right) and discuss how we can help.

PRAYER
Occasionally we produce a prayer
letter emailed to any one who wishes to
use it. Please let Dave know if you
would like one.

Visit

www.teso.org.uk
for up to date news and information
on all TDT’s work.
You can also give securely online at
www.justgiving.com/tesodevelopment